Dodgers’ Trevor Bauer to remain on administrative leave through rest of season

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association have agreed to extend Dodgers right-hander Trevor Bauer’s paid administrative leave through the end of the World Series, effectively bringing an end to Bauer’s 2021 season.

Bauer, the 2020 NL Cy Young winner, hasn’t pitched since June 28 due to his involvement in a sexual assault case. While Bauer’s accuser was denied a restraining order against him last month, the possibility still exists that he’ll face criminal charges.

The Dodgers have operated for months with the assumption that Bauer would not return this year, going so far as to acquire three-time Cy Young winner Max Scherzer at the deadline to boost their rotation. His absence has still had a major effect on the team’s chances of competing for the NL West and World Series titles, though. The Dodgers have been using their bullpen to cover two of every five games through the rotation, and though Tony Gonsolin and Clayton Kershaw are returning, their health remains a question mark at the back end of a rotation that also includes Scherzer, Walker Buehler, and Julio Urias.

There’s a possibility, perhaps a significant one, that the Dodgers will pursue avenues to cut ties with Bauer this offseason. But that likely won’t happen, at earliest, until the Pasadena Police Department and Major League Baseball conclude their investigations into the Bauer incident.